California Dreaming: ebook is published

Published!

This is the story of a remarkable few months that took me and 5 students 6000 miles across the ocean.

Well, this book (like me) is slightly different… I had that confirmed when I received this reply (rejection!) from a big publishing house:

Dear Laura,

Thank you so much for your submission. It is a fascinating and inspiring story, well told.

However, it is not a good fit with the publishing program here [name removed]. As you say, your book “is neither a theoretical nor a how-to book,” and those are precisely the central pillars in our approach to professional development material for educators. I’m sorry. So many times I wish we could make room for things outside the box—

Fortunately I can think outside the box, and don’t give up that easily. Perhaps publishing this book is my small way to make room or pave a way for those people who, like me, think a little bit outside…

As educators we hear the great stories of how people achieve lovely things, but we don’t often hear the whole story. In this story the ups are there, and so are the downs- and you get to see how we got through it. It is not all roses, and the rosey picture portrayed by well-positioned selfies can really give a distorted view of reality and of the work needed to get stuff done. That doesn’t mean wonderful things aren’t possible- on the contrary – I firmly believe we can do more than we can understand.

That doesn’t imply that doing things is easy. Heck, even pushing ‘submit’ on that kindle book took me a moment. I hesitated and doubted, and then thought, ‘do I want to do this??’ YES. YES I DO.

We need examples that are real. I hope that these pages provide some wonderful examples from lovely people. I count myself very privileged to have spent time with them and learned from them.